Émile Zola (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)

Early Life

Born in Paris on April 2, 1840, Émile Zola spent his first eighteen years in Aix-en-Provence. Zola’s father, Francesco Zola, was a high-spirited Venetian, bursting with grandiose ideas for engineering projects. With a doctorate in engineering from the University of Padua, Francesco helped plan the first public railway in Europe, served in the French foreign legion, and, in 1839, married Émilie-Aurélie Aubert. Twenty thousand francs in debt, he nevertheless installed Émilie in an expensive Paris apartment, where Émile, their only child, was born.

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